
Class i__DA.ViO_ 

Book._A^^ M4 
Cppyrightl^^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A Historical Sketch 



OF 



PERKIN WARBECK 



PRETENDER TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND 



BY 

EDWIN HENES, Jr. 
GEO. CHAUNCEY BRINER 



-^ 



Ube Itniclterbociter pveea 

new ffiorl: 

1902 



THE LISRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Cowts ReosivED 

SFT\ 10 19021 

CoPVmOHT EWTRV 

/O. /^C2- 
CI iss Ot-.'XXo. No. 






COPY 8. 






Copyright, 1902 

BY 

EDWIN HENES, Jr. 
GEO. CHAUNCEY BRINER 



Ube IKiticherbochet fiiceea, mew ]i?ovi! 



DEDICATED 

(by permission) 

TO GENERAL 

ALEXANDER S. WEBB, LL.D. 

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF THE 
CITY OF NEW YORK 



PERKIN WARBECK 



IV'ING RICHARD III. of England had attained 
^^ the throne by putting the sons of Edward 
IV., the young and beautiful Edward V. and 
Richard Duke of York into prison and later to 
death. Edward V. reigned less than three months 
and was never crowned. At the time of his 
father's death he was living at Ludlow Castle, sur- 
rounded by his mother's kinsmen and friends. 
On his road to London he was overtaken by 
Richard Duke of Gloucester, who had come up 
from the north. By a sudden stroke of treachery 
and violence, Richard arrested Edward and a few 
of his followers and sent them as prisoners into 
Yorkshire. Edward was then taken to London. 



The poor boy, seeing his friends thus taken from 
him "wept and was nothing content, but it booted 
not." The Queen-mother, who was accompanying 
Edward, as soon as she heard what had happened, 
fled with her youngest son, Richard Duke of York, 
and her five daughters to the sanctuary at West- 
minster. The unfortunate King was lodged in the 
Tower, then a palace as well as a fortress and 
prison. The Duke of Gloucester was then ap- 
\ pointed Protector. 

So far Richard and his followers had been 
united by a common hatred of the Woodvilles or 
Wydeviles, one of whom, Elizabeth, Edward IV. 
had taken to wife. But soon Richard and his sup- 
porters disagreed among themselves. Lord Hast- 
ings in particular, who had been a bitter enemy of 
the Queen's friends, seems to have repented and 
to have secretly gone over to their side. On June 
13, 1485, by order of Richard, Hastings was seized 
at the council board in the Tower, and put to 
death then and there. "By St. Paul," the Protec- 
tor is reported to have said, "I will not to dinner 



till I see thy head off " — and a log of wood which 
lay nearby served as a block for the hurried execu- 
tion. To justify himself, Richard made, that same 
afternoon, a proclamation that Hastings had con- 
spired against his life. Richard did not stop here: 
the little Duke of York, who all this while was 
quietly living with his mother, was removed from 
her in the sanctuary to join his brother in the 
Tower, and thus Gloucester had both his nephews 
"under his thumb." On the following Sunday 
Dr. Ralf Shaw, a noted preacher and brother of 
the Mayor of London, preached a sermon at Paul's 
Cross — a cross and pulpit which then stood at the 
northeast corner of St. Paul's Churchyard — setting 
forth that the children were illegitimate on the 
ground that when their father married Elizabeth 
Wydevile he was under a pre-contract to marry some 
other woman. According to the ecclesiastical law 
this would make his marriage with Elizabeth void. 
Richard was pointed out by the preacher as the right- 
ful inheritor of the crown, and on June 26th the 
Duke of Gloucester sat in Westminster Hall as King 



Richard III. of England. So it was that the crafty 
plotter succeeded in obtaining the crown. 

The new King and Anne his wife were crowned 
at Westminster, July 6, 1483, the preparations 
which had been made for the coronation of the 
nephew serving for those of the uncle. Richard 
then set out for York, where he and the Queen, 
with crowns upon] their heads, walked through 
the streets in grand procession. He was already 
liked in the north, where he had lived for some 
time, and all his display was designed to in- 
crease his popularity. But while he was thus 
spending his time there arose much murmuring 
in the south and west at the captivity of the sons 
of Edward IV. And at last Buckingham, who 
had always been Richard's friend, led an up- 
rising for their release. At this moment it was 
reported that the boys were dead. In the next 
reign it was stated that Sir James Tyrrel and John 
Dighton had confessed that on the refusal of Sir 
Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower, to 
put his prisoners to death, Richard had bidden 



5 

that the keys of the Tower should be delivered to 
Tyrrel for a day, and that Tyrrel's groom, 
Dighton, together with one Miles Forrest, had 
smothered the sleeping boys in their bed and then 
buried them at the foot of the stairs. Some, how- 
ever, have doubted the murder, notwithstanding 
the apparent confirmation of the popular belief 
made by a discovery a hundred and ninety-one 
years later of the bones of two boys, of about the 
same age as the young princes, lying buried in 
the White Tower under the staircase leading to the 
chapel. The King, Charles II., who was then 
reigning, had them removed to Henry VII's 
Chapel in Westminster Abbey, as the remains of 
Edward V. and of Richard Duke of York. So 
ended the life of these two unfortunate boys. 

In 1484 Richard's only child, Edward, died, 
whereupon Richard declared his sister's son, John 
de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, his heir. In the next 
year Queen Anne died, broken down by sorrow 
for the loss of her son, or as Richard's enemies 
afterward said, of poison given by her husband. 



In after days men told how Richard was haunted 
by the memory of his murdered nephews: he knew 
no peace of mind, his hand was ever on his dagger, 
his rest was broken by fearful dreams. Whether 
he was troubled by imaginary dangers or not, he 
had a real one in Henry Tudor, Earl of Rich- 
mond, who had lately bound himself by oath, if he 
obtained the crown, to marry Elizabeth of York, 
and had taken great steps toward the union of 
Yorkists and Lancastrians. 

On August 7, 1485, Richmond, with a body of 
adventurers, mostly Norman, landed at Milford 
Haven, and advancing into the country was met 
by Richard. Then was fought the important 
battle of Bosworth Field. Richard was slain, and 
Henry Richmond, first of the Tudors, was crowned 
on the battlefield as Henry VII. of England. In 
character Henry was cautious, crafty, fond of 
money, and ingenious in acquiring it. Being ever 
in fear of a pretender to his throne, he was anxious 
for the friendship of foreign princes, in order that 
they might not help rebels against him. 



Meanwhile a new claimant to the throne ap- 
peared, styling himself Richard Plantagenet, Duke 
of York. According to his own account he was 
the second son of Edward IV., and had been saved 
alive when his brother was put to death; according 
to Henry he was one Pierre Osbeck, more com- 
monly Perkin Warbeck. There exists some doubt 
as to the place of his birth, but according to his 
own confession he was born in Tournay in Flan- 
ders. The exact year of his birth is also in doubt. 

In the beginning of the year 1490 Warbeck ap- 
plied for and received employment as deck-hand on 
a coasting vessel. His voyage was one of continual 
interest to him, for the mysterious tales of his 
fellow-seamen passed his leisure hours pleasantly, 
which would undoubtedly have seemed very long 
and wearisome. After a few adventures, he 
arrived at the Court of Margaret, Dowager Duchess 
of Burgundy. She was an able ruler, and was 
concerned in some of the principal negotiations 
of her time, proving herself a vindictive enemy 
of France, and a zealous servant of the House of 



8 

Austria. Margaret received Warbeck with enthusi- 
asm as her nephew, and may also have done 
something in the way of educating him for his 
part, but the stories of her having been his chief 
instructress are inconsistent with the comparative 
lateness of his visit to her. Margaret was called 
Henry's Juno from her inveterate hatred and in- 
trigues against him. But the story of the education 
Warbeck received from her has been greatly exag- 
gerated by Bacon and by most historians after him, 
whose accounts certainly suggest that she told him 
family secrets, which in her absence from England 
she herself had hardly much opportunity of knowing. 

"Then she informed him of all the circumstances 
and particulars that concerned the person of 
Richard Duke of York, which he was to act; de- 
scribing unto him the personages and features of 
the King and Queen, his pretended parents, and 
of his brothers and sisters, and others that were 
nearest him in childhood, together with all pass- 
ages, some secret, some common, that were fit for 
a child's memory, until the death of King Edward, 



Then she added the particulars of the time from 
the King's death until he and his brother were 
committed to the Tower, as well as during the 
time he was abroad as while he was in the sanc- 
tuary." * 

Margaret had paid a visit to England in 1480, but 
she had no special knowledge of the tragic history 
of the year 1483. 

It is strange that Henry allowed the afifair to go 
on thus long, with so little notice, He may have 
thought even Margaret's genius hardly equal to 
such a tour de force as the launching of another 
counterfeit prince, only six years after her failure 
in that line. She had six years before this taken 
up the cause of Lambert Simnel, who was the son 
of one Thomas Simnel. Lambert was encouraged 
to personate the same murdered prince. Margaret 
was bent upon the restoration of the House of 
York, and did everything in her power to encour- 
age intrigues against Henry. 

Meanwhile Henry, as a worthy pupil of Louis 
* Bacon's Henry VII. 



XI., was using many artful means for tracking out 
the conspiracy against him. He directed various 
spies to pretend loyalty to Warbeck and his party, 
and thus to ascertain on whose help they counted 
in England. At the same time they were to take 
every opportunity of detaching Englishmen abroad 
from the rebellion. It is said that he took particu- 
lar care to have these spies cursed at St. Paul's, as 
if they were really his enemies. This, however, 
would happen in the natural course of things, if he 
kept secret their real intentions. The result of 
this policy soon appeared in the arrest of Lord 
Fitzwalter and some other men of rank, several of 
whom were beheaded. But the most startling 
revelation still remained; it was found that Sir 
William Stanley, who had deserted to Henry at 
Bosworth Field, had now joined the conspiracy 
against him. Little is known about the degree of 
Stanley's guilt. The indictment against him only 
specified his having said in conversation with the 
informer Clifford, that "if he were sure that the 
young man was Edward's son he would not bear 



XI 

arms against him." The judges held that treason 
could not escape from being sheltered under such 
a condition, and Stanley was accordingly executed 
on February i6, 1495. ^^ appears also that he 
had deeply offended Henry by applying for the 
Earldom of Chester, which was then, as it still is, 
an appanage of the Crown and annexed to the title 
of Prince of Wales. It was he who saved Henry's 
life at Bosworth Field. Stanley, who could muster 
many followers in Cheshire and Lancashire, had, 
while holding office under Richard, secretly prom- 
ised his support to Henry. To the last moment 
he delayed declaring himself, because his eldest 
son was in the hands of the King, whose suspicion 
being now awakened, threatened that the son 
should die if the father played false. When the 
battle began near Market Bosworth, August 22, 
1485, Stanley, in the midst of the encounter, 
joined Henry's troops. Richard, as a last effort, 
made a desperate charge upon Henry's body- 
guard. Cleaving the skull of one knight and un- 
horsing another, he cut his way to his rival, when 



12 

Sir William, who had hitherto held aloof, brought 
up his followers to Henry's rescue, and Richard, 
crying, "Treason! treason!" fell overpowered by 
numbers. The crowri which had been struck from 
his helmet was picked up on the field and set by 
Stanley on the head of Henry, who was hailed as 
King. 

In the year 1491, when there was a prospect of 
war between England and France, Perkin War- 
beck landed at Cork. He was strikingly hand- 
some and attracted considerable attention on his 
arrival. Gradually a report was spread that he 
was really a Plantagenet — what precise member of 
that illustrious family was now among them was a 
subject on which authorities disagreed. He was 
first made out to be the Earl of Warwick, then a 
bastard of Richard HI. ; but at last all Ireland 
was convinced that he was none other than the 
Duke of York. Thus encouraged, Warbeck wrote 
letters to the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, to 
enlist them in his cause. He made little progress 
for a time in gaining powerful adherents, and had, 



13 

indeed, as yet scarcely been heard of in England: 
still his Irish sojourn had given him a good oppor- 
tunity for studying the part which he was to play. 

War with England breaking out, the French 
Government thought it worth while to invite War- 
beck to Paris: there he was received as a royal 
prince and attended by a guard of honor. The 
French were always at enmity with the English, 
and gladly encouraged rebellious subjects. King 
Charles, in order that Warbeck might further 
extend his claim, presented him with a liberal 
pension. 

This open encouragement given abroad to the 
pretender to the English throne was naturally a 
trial to Henry's pacific policy. But Juno was in 
the clouds and could not be got hold of. She was 
not a sovereign princess, but only a duchess- 
dowager, living on the lands of her jointure and 
under the protection of her stepson, Philip Arch- 
duke of Austria. Henry must therefore address 
his remonstrances to him; and he sent over Sir 
Edward Poynings, to whose services at Sluys the 



.14 

Flemings were much indebted, and Dr, Warham, 
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Low 
Countries with that object. The Archduke Philip 
was only fifteen years old, and his Council, influ- 
enced no doubt by Margaret herself, but still more 
by the French party in Flanders, replied that he 
was anxious to cultivate the best possible terms 
with England, but that his stepmother was free to 
do as she pleased within her own lands. ' ' It was 
impossible," they said, "to interfere with the 
Duchess of Burgundy's actions within the districts 
which belonged to her." This practically meant 
that Henry must look to himself in case any hostile 
expedition should be secretly fitted out in the Low 
Countries and land on the English coast. Henry 
might fairly have answered by a declaration of war 
with Flanders — a course to which he was natur- 
ally averse, and from which he allowed himself to 
be dissuaded by the Spanish Ambassador. So he 
only wrote to trusty men to be prepared to serve 
him in a day's warning for the defence of the king- 
dom. But he determined at the same time that 



15 

the unfriendly treatment he had received from the 
Flemings should be visited on themselves; and 
since they made him so bad a return for freeing 
their commerce from molestation, he recalled the 
Merchant Adventurers from Antwerp, forbade 
commercial intercourse with Flanders, and pro- 
posed to set up a mart for English cloth at Calais. 
The immediate result of this course was a great 
deal of inconvenience to the merchants of England 
as well as of the Netherlands, — in fact rather more 
to the former than to the latter. For it was pres- 
ently discovered that a set of aliens in the very 
heart of London, — the Merchants of the Hanse, 
commonly called, from their place of business, the 
Merchants of the Steelyard, — were by their char- 
ters exempt from the prohibition and carried on 
freely the traffic from which the English merchants 
were excluded. The result was a riot in the city, 
which was with difficulty appeased : while the pres- 
sure put upon the Flemings did not prevent War- 
beck from receiving shelter and support in the Low 
Countries for about two years and a half. The 



i6 

attempt to divert English commerce from the Low 
Countries was hopeless, and the Archduke's Coun- 
cil, conscious that England could not afford to 
quarrel with Flanders, continued the same irritat- 
ing policy of pretended friendliness, Maximilian, 
also, who on the death of his father Frederic in 
1493 had come to be recognized as emperor, 
though his title strictly was still only King of the 
Romans, forgetful of repeated benefits at Henry's 
hands, was quite zealous in favor of the pretender; 
and Henry knew long before it was launched that 
an expedition was being prepared in the Low 
Countries for the invasion of England. 

It would probably have sailed two years earlier 
than it did but for the difficulty Maximilian com- 
monly found in obtaining supplies; for the pre- 
tender could not look for much help from any 
other quarter. Soon after Warbeck's arrival in 
the Low Countries, he had written to Queen 
Isabella of Spain setting forth his claims as Duke 
of York, and giving an account of his adventures ; 
but the letter was simply laid aside, docketed by 



17 

the Spanish Secretary of State as "from Richard 
who calls himself King of England." Ferdinand 
and Isabella were too wise to have anything to do 
with him. The French king offered Henry the 
benefit of his navy in case of any hostile attempt 
against England; but Henry replied that as to the 
matter of the "lad," as Henry called him, there 
was no need of any special precautions, — it was 
quite well known in England that he was the son 
of a boatman in Tournay. Henry, no doubt 
looked upon his pretensions with very genuine 
contempt, while foreign princes, friendly and un- 
friendly, tried to increase their importance as a 
possible source of disturbance. But Henry knew 
that real danger could only come from conspiracy 
at home in aid of an invasion ; and he was suffi- 
ciently on his guard against being dispossessed of 
his throne in the way he had dispossessed King 
Richard. 

But the caution of Henry and the impecuniosity 
of Maximilian are in themselves scarcely sufficient 
explanation of the fact that a pretender to the 



English throne should have lain two and a half 
years in Flanders, encouraged openly by a Duchess- 
dowager of Burgundy and secretly by the Arch- 
duke Philip's Council, without making any attempt 
to realize his pretensions. The fact is that Euro- 
pean princes were at this time engrossed with 
matters of much greater consequence. It was 
during those two years and a half that Charles 
VIII. had made his famous expedition into Italy, 
when it was said that his soldiers had come merely 
with chalk in their hands to mark up their lodg- 
ings. At his approach one king of Naples had 
abdicated, and his successor had been obliged to 
fly. In fact, he was welcomed everywhere as the 
deliverer of Italy, and particularly of Naples, from 
intolerable tyranny and misgovernment. Yet, un- 
conscious of the cause to which his success was 
due, he seemed to think himself not a liberator, 
but a conqueror, and alienated the hearts of 
the Italians almost as soon as he had won them; 
with the result that he was nearly locked up in 
the peninsula by the very same princes who had 



19 

invited him into it. Chief of these was the schem- 
ing Lodovico Maria Sforza, called by the Italians 
"the Moor," uncle of the Duke of Milan and 
regent of the duchy, who assured him that Venice 
would stand neutral and that the only opposition 
he had to look for was in seeking to make good his 
claim to Naples, Before he had gone far, Lodovico 
had become Duke of Milan himself by the very 
suspicious death of his nephew, whom he had 
kept imprisoned at Pavia. But in the following 
spring the Pope, the Duke of Milan, and the Vene- 
tian republic were all Charles's enemies, and had 
formed a league against him with Maximilian and 
Ferdinand of Spain. 

Neither had Henry in England been indifferent 
to the affairs in Italy. Far off as he was, he had 
taken some pains to establish friendly relations 
with the Arrongese kings of Naples,- — no doubt as 
a kind of check on France if Charles should not 
be faithful to his engagements. Just after the 
treaty of Etaples he, Henry, had sent the Garter, 
the highest British order of knighthood, and one 



of the oldest and most illustrious of European 
orders, to Alfonzo, Duke of Calabria, who became 
King of Naples by his father's death before Charles 
VIII's invasion. He had also cultivated the 
most cordial relations with Milan, and had even 
listened to a proposal for marrying the young Duke 
Galeazzo Maria Sforza to a daughter of Edward 
IV. and sister of his own queen. If in these 
matters his policy bore little fruit it was not for 
want of careful and intelligent watching of the 
affairs of Italy. 

In many things [wrote a Milanese envoy in 
London to Lodovico Sforza a year or two later] 
— in many things I know this sovereign to be 
admirably well informed, but above all because he 
is most thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of 
Italy, and receives special information of every 
event. He is no less conversant with your own 
personal attributes and those of your duchy than 
the King of France ; and when the King of France 
went into Italy the King of England sent with him 
a herald of his own called Richmond, a sage man, 
who saw everything until his return. Then the 



merchants, especially the Florentines, never cease 
giving the King of England advices. 

It was by this continual watchfulness, studying 
the world far and near, and keeping himself per- 
fectly informed at all times of the internal state of 
other countries, as well as his own, and their rela- 
tions towards each other, that Henry, the most 
pacific prince that ever reigned, erelong made his 
value as an ally felt by sovereigns over the whole 
of Europe. But the conviction that he was firmly 
seated on his throne was by no means even yet 
universal; and there were sovereigns far from 
wise, like Maximilian, King of the Romans, whom 
no sense of past benefits could keep steady in 
friendship. For Maximilian, having made an ad- 
vantageous peace with France, with large com- 
pensation for past injuries, thought he could do 
without England; or if he hoped for anything 
more from that quarter, it would be from Eng- 
land under a new master, such as Margaret of 
Burgundy would give. Not that this desertion 



of Henry was occasioned by any cordiality toward 
France, for it is clear that Charles VIII. never 
trusted his friendship; and having in 1494 married 
a sister of Lodovico Sforza, he was easily drawn 
into the League of Italian powers against Charles 
in the following year. This ought to have made 
him anxious once more to cultivate amicable rela- 
tions with Henry; but instead of doing this he 
continued his idle support of Warbeck ; persuaded, 
it would seem, that by this means Henry could 
easily be driven out and a new sovereign given to 
England who would at once begin a war with 
France. And so sanguine was he in this matter 
that he would not even listen to his brother-in-law, 
Lodovico, who showed him that the opinion in 
Spain as well as in Italy was that the League 
against France would be greatly strengthened by 
Henry's adhesion. 

Meanwhile Maximilian and his young son Philip 
were in raptures at the splendid chances which 
were now presenting themselves. Warbeck ap- 
pears to have given them the additional promise, 



23 

either to abdicate in favor of Philip, or to hold 
the kingdom in subordination to him; it seemed 
quite probable that Maximilian would soon be able 
to hurl all the forces of England at the King of 
France, whom he hated so intensely. Henry there- 
fore became suddenly aware that England was to 
be at once invaded, and that Warbeck was held to 
be really the Duke of York, not only by those who 
had been maintaining him for two years, but by 
the Pope, by James IV. of Scotland, by Charles 
of France, by the Duke of Savoy, by the King of 
Denmark, and perhaps also by Ferdinand and 
Isabella. To a man habitually prudent and far- 
seeing, there is something unbearable in the 
thought of having allowed danger to accumulate 
by sheer neglect; and Henry suffered this misery 
to such an extent that he became in a few days 
quite an old man. 

At the beginning of July, 1495, Warbeck's fleet, 
or rather Maximilian's, was off the coast of Kent. 
Some of the troops on board disembarked near Deal, 
and were at once attacked by the country people. 



24 

No attempt was made to rescue the prisoners and 
the expedition passed on. Warbeck had no mind 
to land himself, but sailed away to try his fortunes 
in Ireland, where he had made such a favorable 
impression at first. 

Now, it might have been politic enough from 
Warbeck's point of view to betake himself to an 
island over which Henry had not yet succeeded in 
establishing his authority on anything like a secure 
basis. But it was a rather humiliating result of 
two years' preparation for the invasion of England 
that, after having a fleet equipped for the pur- 
pose, the adventurer had not dared to set foot in 
the country himself. Maximilian, who had taken 
a great part in fitting out the expedition, had been 
bragging to the Venetian ambassadors, that the 
Duke of York, as he called him, would very soon 
conquer England, and then, in fulfilment of the 
most solemn promises, turn his arms against the 
King of France. How he received the news of 
the unsuccessful attempt at Deal we are not in- 
formed; but even two months later he was still 



25 

feeding himself with delusive hopes of ultimate 
success of an enterprise which had made such an 
unpromising commencement. Very different was 
the view of a shrewd observer like Ferdinand, 
whose friendship for Henry, never more than luke- 
warm, was founded solely on considerations of 
policy. He was carefully watching the turn of 
events for future guidance: and to him the fiasco 
at Deal was pretty decisive — not so much of the 
pretensions of Perkin Warbeck, which he never 
seems to have credited, as of the utter impossibil- 
ity of Henry's enemies dealing a serious blow at 
him with such a slender and ineffective weapon. 
"We now tell you," he wrote to his ambassador in 
England, "that as for the affair of him who calls 
himself duke, we hold it for a jest." 

It was really little more even in the country to 
which Warbeck had now withdrawn himself. For 
Ireland, though still a considerable problem to 
Henry, was not quite such a convenient play- 
ground for his enemies as it had been at the 
beginning of his reign. Kildare was no longer 



26 

Deputy. He had been attainted by an Irish 
Parliament for disloyal conduct and sent a prisoner 
to England. Below is a letter from the Lords of 
Ireland to Henry urging that Kildare be allowed 
to remain in Ireland for the safety of the 
country. 

To the King, our Soverayne Liege Lord : 

Moost excelent Cristen kyng and our moost re- 
doubted soverayne and liege lord, in the humblest 
wise that eny subjettes kan or may, we recommand 
us unto your moost excellent grace. Please it the 
same that our right gode lord Gerald erle of Kyl- 
dare your depute lieutenant of this your land of 
Irland hath shewed unto us your graciouse lettrez 
dated at your maner of Greenwich the xxviij day 
of July last passed, whereby we have well under- 
staund your graciouse mynd in the same that ye 
wold have our said gode lord to your noble pres- 
ence, to thentent that he myght knowe thereby 
your graciouse mynd, and that your highnes myght 
have plenas communicacion with hyra in all such 
things as myght concerne the wele of this your said 
land and for the reducyng thereof and your sub- ■ 
jettes of the same to a gode and lawefull ordre and 



27 

obeisaunce, to the pleaser of God and wele and 
profit of your subjettes and land, as in your said 
lettre more amplier it doth appear. Gracious lord, 
and it like your highness, we understaund that he 
is bounded and sworne to be your trewe and feith- 
ful subjet and liegeman as straitly and as sure as 
ever was eny subjet to his prince: the which othe 
and assurance our said gode lord hath wele and 
truly kept and observed contynuelly to this tyme, 
and undoubted will kepe during his lyve, and 
never will degresse from the said othe and assur- 
aunce. And graciouse lord, forasmoche as we 
understand the great dangers and emynent periles 
that shold folly if he shold depart owt of this your 
land, as well by your Irishe enemys as otherwise; 
for when our said gode lord was seke, whereof we 
certified your highnes but late, it was playnly and 
openly reported that our said gode lord was in 
grete joperdy of lyve, by reason whereof diverse 
of the myghtiest of our Irish enemys confidered to 
gedir ymagyned and noysed a division t . . . 
between them of your landes in this parties, yif 
God had done the will of our said gode lord. And 
in his said sekenes ther were diverse of your sub- 
jettes robbed, spoyled and taken prisoners and 



28 

meny other grete hurts done. And by the oothes 
that we have done to your highnes that is true with 
oute feynyng. Wherefor we in our moost humble 
and obeysant maner beseche your excellent grace 
to be his gode and graciouse lord, and to have hym 
in your moost tender favour, and that he may have 
your graciouse license at this tyme to abide at 
home for the defence and saufgard of us and others 
your feythful subjettes for diverse and many urgent 
causes and great dangers, which we knowe right- 
well shold fall in his absence yif he shold depart. 
And graciouse lord we beseche your highnes that 
whatsoever accusements be made unto your grace 
on our said lord that ther be no credence takyn 
therto tyll his resonable excuses be had in the 
same. Moost excellent Cristen kyng and our 
moost redoubted soverayne liege lord, the Blessed 
Triniti graunte you meny properouse yeres to 
reigne upon us with victory of your enemys. 

Goven at your Cite of Divelyn in playne parle- 
ment under the oone part of your grete seall of 
this your said land, the iiij day of Juny. 

[Here follow thirteen signatures.] 

By your true and feithful subjettes the lordes 
spirituels and temporels and your Counseillours 



29 

of your land of Irland in playne parlement ther 
assembled. 

Addressed: To the Kyng our Soverayne Liege 
Lord. 

The Earl of Desmond, however, was still at 
large in Munster, and to him Warbeck at once 
repaired. Between them they laid siege to the 
loyal town of Waterford — the only place in Ireland 
which had held out for the King against Lambert 
Simnel. Warbeck' s little fleet blockaded the 
harbor, while his Irish allies shut in the town on 
the land side. The citizens, however, discharged 
volleys of artillery against the ships, and in eleven 
days Warbeck was compelled to raise the siege, 
leaving more than one vessel in their hands. 

There seems to have been nothing more left for 
Warbeck to do in Ireland, and he accordingly pro- 
ceeded to Scotland. 

From the time of his first appearance as the 
Duke of York, the Scots had been interested in 
his pretensions. He had written to James IV. as 
he did to other sovereigns for support, and ap- 



30 

parently to him before others. James had certainly 
assisted the expedition in which Warbeck made his 
abortive attempt at Deal, and was reported at that 
time to have sent him ships and men to do him 
service. For any enterprise against England the 
adventurer and his pretensions offered an admir- 
able pretext, and on his arrival he was received by 
James with all the honor due to a foreign prince. 
His wardrobe was plentifully furnished at the ex- 
pense of the Scottish King, and messengers were 
despatched all over the kingdom with letters to 
array the lieges for military service. But nearly 
a year seems to have elapsed after his arrival in 
Scotland before he actually crossed the border at 
the head of a small force in order to make good 
his pretended right; and when he did so, the at- 
tempt was so utterly futile that it must have been 
a complete disappointment, not only to the Scots, 
but to many who looked on from a distance, like 
the Venetian agents in England, who seemed to 
have been fully persuaded that Henry was in real 
dread of being driven from his kingdom. It is 



31 

not improbable that they derived this impression 
from Henry himself, who doubtless had reasons of 
his own for magnifying to them the difficulties by 
which he was surrounded. 

James and Warbeck planned an invasion of 
England, for which Scotland was to be compen- 
sated by thirty-three thousand pounds and the 
cession of Berwick. Henry, now thoroughly 
awakened to his difficulties, was attempting the 
same arts which had prospered in Flanders. He 
was in constant communication with John Ram- 
say, Lord Bothwell, who had promised if possible 
to kidnap the "feigned boy" and despatch him to 
England, also to intimidate his supporters. Both- 
well traitorously pressed upon Henry that war with 
Scotland was always dear to Englishmen; that 
James's government was most unpopular; that it 
would be easy to send a fleet and destroy all the 
shipping of the country; and that Edinburgh 
Castle itself was only half-armed. However, be- 
fore Henry was prepared for such enterprises the 
Scottish raid into England took place, September 



32 

17, 1496- Henry, indeed, seems to have en- 
deavored to avert it by negotiations, for he had 
that very month commissioned Bishop Fox and 
others to treat for the marriage of the Scotch King 
to his daughter Margaret. But James apparently 
believed that by means of Warbeck he could re- 
cover Berwick from the English, and negotiate 
under more favorable conditions. Warbeck got 
together a body of 1400 men of different nationali- 
ties, who mustered at Ellm Kirk and crossed the 
Border with James. But there was nothing in the en- 
terprise except the foreign element in the invading 
army to distinguish it from any other Border raid. 
There was a good deal of ravage, of burning, and 
of killing; but there was no sign whatever that any 
English people were disposed to join the invaders; 
and within four days the host had returned once 
more within Scottish territory. Warbeck, it is 
said, was soon weary at the sight of cruelty and 
devastation committed by his Scotch allies; and 
he begged King James to be a little more merciful 
to those whom he affected to call his subjects. 



35 

Nothing, however, was so clear as that the alleged 
subjects cared little for him who claimed their 
allegiance. 

By this time both Charles and Ferdinand had 
bethought themselves how important it was to com- 
pete for Henry's friendship; and each was declar- 
ing that he alone could supply undoubted evidence 
of Warbeck's real birth. Henry, not ill-pleased at 
finding his alliance thus valued and his dangers 
from Warbeck getting less every day, nevertheless 
used the rebellion as an excuse for remaining 
neutral in the war between France and Austria. 
"How," he asked Ferdinand and Maximilian, 
"could he possibly declare war against France 
while such a home danger was close upon him? " 

James is commonly represented as having been 
convinced by his experience that Warbeck was an 
impostor. But whatever may have been his real 
opinion he had pledged himself too deeply to War- 
beck's cause to admit that he was imposed on. 
The pretender had actually during his stay in 
Scotland been allowed to take a wife from among 

LofC. 



34 

the best blood of the Scotch nobility, and had in 
fact become related to James himself by his mar- 
riage to Katherine Gordon, known as the White 
Rose of Scotland. Moreover, he still possessed 
value in the eyes of some sovereigns; for the 
French Ambassador had been offering James one 
hundred thousand crowns if he would send him 
again into France. Not that Charles really be- 
lieved in his pretensions, but he had not long 
before sent over to England a document, attested 
by his Council, showing that the young man's 
parentage was quite well known in France; he 
offered to send over his father and mother for 
better evidence of the truth. But things had 
altered somewhat since then, for Henry had joined 
the league of European powers to keep the French 
out of Italy; and Charles conceived that, if he 
could but get hold of the young man again, he 
could still make use of him to keep the King of 
England in order. 

James, however, had no notion of selling his 
guest to any power, friendly or otherwise, and War- 



35 

beck remained under his protection for nearly 
another year. But James most probably saw that 
he must come to an arrangement with England in 
the long run, and did not wish to be compelled to 
surrender him by treaty. So in July, 1497, War- 
beck, with his wife, embarked at Ayr, with a small 
fleet under the command of the Scottish captains 
Andrew and Robert Barton, He once more bent 
his course to Ireland, and on the 26th of July 
landed at Cork, where he had been encouraged to 
look for some support. But Kildare, who had 
been reappointed as deputy, was not willing to 
offend again; so he got little encouragement, and 
soon determined to sail for Cornwall, where a 
rebellion had been repressed only three months 
before, and might perhaps be renewed by his 
presence. 

This Cornish dissatisfaction had originally sprung 
out of the old grievance of subsidies. That a trif- 
ling Scottish invasion should be held to justify such 
exactions all over England appeared intolerable 
to a sturdy race of miners who would have thought 



36 

little of resisting a few hundred foreigners, if any 
such had landed in their counties. Being in- 
formed by one Thomas Flammock, an attorney 
from Bodwin, that taxes were illegal for such a 
purpose, they actually resolved to march to Lon- 
don in arms in order to petition against the impost, 
and to call for the punishment of those who ad- 
vised it — of Cardinal Morton and Sir Reginald 
Bray. In Devonshire their conduct was peaceful; 
but on entering Somersetshire near Taunton, they 
murdered a commissioner for the subsidy, and 
forced Lord Audley to be their general. Under 
his command they marched by way of Salisbury 
and Winchester into Kent, where they hoped to 
find a population like-minded with themselves, 
doubtless from the memories of Cade's rebellion. 
In this they had no success, the Kentish men being 
proud rather of their recent resistance to Warbeck 
than of any achievements of their fathers. Henry, 
also, fortunately for himself, had forces in hand 
which had been prepared for the Scottish war; 
these were immediately ordered to advance toward 



37 

Blackheath, where the rebels were now encamped; 
while at the same time bodies of horse were sent to 
their rear to prevent their straggling in that direc- 
tion. Officers were also detailed to the city of 
London to organize resistance and check the panic 
which seemed impending there. Confidence having 
been thus restored, the commanders spread the 
report that they intended to attack the rebels on 
Monday, June 24th ; and, having thus thrown them 
off their guard, they ordered their outposts at the 
bridge over the Ravenburne at Deptford to be 
driven in on the Saturday afternoon. This was 
done by Lord Danberry; and as the Cornishmen 
had arranged no supports in case of repulse, he 
had no difficulty in making his way to Blackheath 
Hill, and charging the main body on the plain 
above. His victory was soon complete, two thou- 
sand rebels being slain, and the other fourteen 
thousand completely hemmed in by the troop in 
the rear. It is remarkable that although the good 
archery of Cornwall had cost Henry the lives of 
three hundred men slain on the field, he yet 



38 

contented himself with inflicting capital punishment 
on Lord Audley, Flammock, and a third leader, a 
Bodwin blacksmith, one Michael Joseph. 
/ Escaping with difficulty from some Waterford 
pursuers who were overhauling his vessels, War- 
beck landed at Whitesand Bay, and the Corn- 
ishmen, no whit daunted by the results of their 
excursion to the metropolis, joined him in such 
numbers that he was able, after a fashion, to 
besiege Exeter. Being driven from thence by 
the Earl of Devon, he led about seven thousand 
men as far as Taunton; then his heart failed him 
so miserably that he deserted his wretched follow- 
ers and made for the sanctuary of Beaulieu in the 
New Forest. Being taken to Exeter where Henry 
then was, he made a full confession of his impos- 
ture, the substance of which has been lately con- 
firmed by the discovery of a letter from him to his 
mother, written at about the same time, and with 
family details. 

"First it is to be known," said Perkin Warbeck, 
sitting with his feet in the stocks before the door 



39 

of Westminster Hall, "that I was born in the town 
of Tournay in Flanders, and my father's name is 
John Osbeck, which said John was comptroller of 
the said town of Tournay, and my mother's name 
is Katharine de Faro." The prisoner then went 
on to give the names of his two grandfathers, and 
uncle, and some other connections. One grand- 
mother had married a Peter Flamme, receiver of 
the town of Tournay, and dean of the boatmen on 
the Scheldt. His maternal grandfather kept the 
keys of St. John's in the same town. During his 
boyhood he was taken by his mother to Antwerp 
to learn Flemish, and stayed with a cousin, John 
Steinbeck, half a year. 

" And after that," he goes on to say, " I returned 
again to Tournay by reason of the wars that were 
in Flanders. And within a year following I was 
sent with a merchant of the same town of Tournay, 
named Barlo, and his master's name Alexander, to 
the mart of Antwerp, where I fell sick, which sick- 
ness continued upon five months. And the said 
Barlo set me to board in a skinner's house that 



40 

dwelled beside the house of the English nation. 
And by him I was from thence carried to Browe 
mart, and I lodged at the sign of the Old Man, 
where I abode the space of two months. And after 
this the said Barlo set me with a merchant of Mid- 
dleburgh to service, for to learn the language, his 
name was John Strewe, with whom I dwelled from 
Christmas to Easter. And then I went in Portugal 
in the company of Sir Edward Brampton's wife in a 
ship which was called the Queen Ship. And when 
I was come thither, there I was put in service to a 
knight that dwelled in Lisbon, which was called 
Peter Vazz de Cogna, with whom I dwelled a whole 
year, which said knight had but one eye. And be- 
cause I desired to see other countries, I took 
license of him, and then I put myself in service 
with a Breton called Pregent Meno, the which 
brought me with him into Ireland, and there 
against my will made me to learn English and 
taught me what I should do and say." 

Thus did Perkin Warbeck himself account for 
his private history. Two whole days did he sit in 
the stocks, the first at Westminster and the second 
at Cheap, and read his confession publicly. 



41 

Strange to say, too, his life was spared, even after 
he had made one attempt at escape ; but being after- 
wards imprisoned in the Tower, he was allowed to 
communicate with the captive Earl of Warwick. 
The two plotted a new evasion, but the star of the 
unfortunate adventurer was near its setting. On 
the 23d of November, 1499, Perkin Warbeck was 
executed at Tyburn: "the winding ivy of a Planta- 
genet," in Bacon's picturesque phrase, "thus 
killing the true tree itself." 



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